The morning after.

[wichshock65]

We’ve all had time to sleep on the hiring of Paul Mills. I am one of those who was shocked by the hire and thought we could have done better. After research, he appears to be a solid hire and so feeling much better today. Stepped away from the ledge, so to speak.

so, what’s the morning after temperature of Shockernet?

[WstateU]

[BOBB]

I really like this hire.
A guy who has paid his dues, built a program at ORU, which is next to impossible. Look folks, ORU went 18-0 in The Summit last year!
I don't car what league you reside, 18-0 is impressive!

People on here need to understand that Jans was not happening. The buyout was more than some third world countries GDP!
Also, some MSU boosters were stepping up with some extra incentives for him to stay in Starkville. Read into that what you will.
Once again, it wasn't happening.

Kelsey wasn't leaving Charleston either. Very comfortable there and has school and others support.

I think a lot of you will end up eating some serious crow in a year for two.

That is all.

ShockRef post gave me some green shoots of hope.

[WstateU]

"Hope" is a good thing...

[WuShock16]

You have the same sick twisted mind that I do. This too was the first thing that came to mind when I read the thread’s title.

[podunkboy]

I'm mostly talked back from the ledge, a lot of it will be who's he bringing with him (coaching and potential players), can he motivate the donors, can he get the fence-sitters to buy back into supporting the program and the players. He certainly has a pedigree, I'm sure he came more cheaply than some of the names out there, and at this point, I can't judge him until I know more about him.

[RoyalShock]

My expectations the first year will be mostly based on the roster he has to work with. I'm not going to judge who stays, who goes, who follows him from ORU. What I want to see next season is a product on the floor that's getting the most out of the talent on the floor. After that, recruiting will be in the spotlight.

[ABC]

I understand some hesitancy, but I do not get the "meh", "this sucks", "no", "yuck", "this was handled poorly", "Saal must not have had a plan."

e comes from a great coaching tree and has had success as a Division 1 head coach. He's won more NCAA tourney games than Jans . . .

[1972Shocker]

At this point, Paul Mills is the Wichita State Shocker head men's basketball coach. Whether or not he was the best choice (any he may or may not have been the best guy we could have gotten) is not all that relevant today for me. What is relevant is how Coach Mills performs from this day forward as long as he is leading the Shocker program. As my crystal ball is in the shop and never worked very well anyway I'm looking forward to seeing how that plays out. One thing that is not uncertain is that Coach Mills is coming in at a very challenging time for Shocker Athletics specifically and college basketball generally. I wish him well and hope he is up to the task at hand.

[Atxshoxfan]

I think Saal along with the consulting firm did a great job finding Mills. Someone that none of us mentioned initially, as we based our desires on coaches we know more about.
Mills may be our Ron Baker of coaches or our Tang.
Time will tell, but I'm feeling pretty good about it personally.

[Maizerunner08]

I think Saal along with the consulting firm did a great job finding Mills. Someone that none of us mentioned initially, as we based our desires on coaches we know more about.
Mills may be our Ron Baker of coaches or our Tang.
Time will tell, but I'm feeling pretty good about it personally.

We could really use another Rob Barker at WSU.

I didn't realize how great the Scott Drew coaching tree is.

[SB Shock]

I was iffy when it was very first announced - and then I had a couple people who follow Shox Bball explained why it was a great hire and provided various links to back up their position. My position quickly evolved to the conclusion that he would fit in perfect for Wichita.

[1972Shocker]

An interesting, and I would think unusual, educational background:

Mills, age 50, graduated from Texas A&M in 1996 with a degree in finance and completed a Master of Biblical and Theological Studies from Dallas Theological Seminary in the summer of 2020.

[1972Shocker]

Wichita State will introduce Paul Mills as its 27^th head men's basketball coach at 3:30 p.m. Thursday inside Charles Koch Arena. This event is free and open to the public with streaming available live and on-demand via ESPN+.

[ShockTalk]

Look, I will support Coach Mills because I am a WSU fan. I also hope I am wrong in my judgement of the hire (#3 on the list above). I will not mind eating crow.

However, I'm not going to ignore how his season this year with ORU came about.

1) The Summit was a very weak conference this year and ORU won by 5 games. No other team played in the post season this year.

2) 2nd place SDST was 6-8 non-con losing to teams like Akron (3rd in the MAC), SF Austin (6th in the WAC), and Montana (4th in the Big Sky).

3) All of ORU's non-con losses were against descent teams and ORU's best win was at home against Liberty. However, their other 8 non-con wins were not that impressive. Four were non-DI teams (John Brown, Oklahoma Baptist, Rogers St, and Ozark Christian). The other four were @ Tulsa (5-25), Central Arkansas (9-22), @ Texas Southern (14-21), and home against Missouri State (17-15) by 3 points.

4) His success in the 20-21 post season only came about due to winning over South Dakota St by 2, and then North Dakota St by 3 in their tourney after finishing 4th in the league.

It is what it is. Maybe we couldn't afford the others. That's not our AD's fault. I hope we have hit lighting in a bottle, and it will be well worth the added money spent.